66 Reasons Why the World Should Love Israel

It’s that time of year again! The time of year where we all put our differences aside and wave the Israeli flag from our homes, cars or (if you are a poor student who has no worldly belongings like I am) backpacks. That time of year where we remember that, complaining aside, we do actually love our country. That time where our facebook statuses, newspaper articles and blog posts are filled with lists of all our favorite things about Israel and being Israeli. This year I thought it was time to make a different type of list, because although it is clear to me why our state is amazing, for some reason the world hasn’t realized that yet. So here are 66 reasons why the entire world should love Israel:

We have sun, lots of it!

We brought you the wondrous game of Matkot! This alone should make you love us!

Contrary to what you may have heard, we are NOT an apartheid state! Trust me, I have the misfortune of being a Political Science student writing a term paper on the apartheid in South Africa (where the term apartheid was coined), and calling Israel an apartheid is just an uneducated mistake.

We won the Eurovision with a ridiculous song that actually doesn’t make sense, even if you do speak Hebrew.

The Laptop (we invented it)

Waze

Instant messaging technology

Cherry Tomatoes

Rumicube

I would continue with the Innovations, but I would fill the entire list with them alone. Although Israel is only 66 years old, it is known as the start up nation, thanks to the many start ups we have here.

Metuselah, the Israeli palm tree grew from a 2,000 year old seed found in archaeological excavations in Mesada, bringing the Judean date Palm back from extinction.

We believe in education, health and basic human rights. That’s why all citizens of Israel without discrimination receive free education, free health care and the freedom to live their lives as they wish. These rights are enforced by law.

We are a tiny country, about the size of New Jersey.

Elite Popping chocolate! Give it a try! I promise you won’t be sorry.

We have a really rich history. Anywhere you dig in Israel you are likely to find ancient artifacts from multiple historical periods.

These artifacts are preserved by the Israeli state. Also, some ancient religious structures that were found were restored and are used again today for their original purpose.

We want peace! If you don’t believe our words, believe our actions. We have withdrawn from territories, froze building processes and released numerous prisoners to advance this goal.

We also want to develop. We love to grow and build communities.

We are a loving and warm society.

It’s only our 66th birthday this week – and I had absolutely no trouble coming up with 66 things that make us awesome!